I fully expected to hate the movie, and in many ways, it’s not very good.   It’s self-indulgent.   Certain scenes go on long after we’ve gotten the point; others make no logical sense.   After the first fifteen minutes, Layla’s continued presence is straight-up not credible, and neither is the idea that Billy would have actually gone to jail for another guy.   Vincent Gallo is really really in love with himself.   And yet, it works — not all of it, but most of it.   It held my interest every minute.   The closest I can come to explaining why is that the movie has a “the truth is stranger than fiction” cloak wrapped around it that lets it move among “real” movies. (9/8/03)

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